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Introduction

One of the things in a computer that many people tend to neglect is
their Power Supply Unit. When a power supply is placed under heavy load
it's going to produce heat, which needs to be removed. Fortunately most
good quality power supplies don't have a problem with cooling; in fact
most of the major manufacturers like Enermax, Antec, and PC Power and
Cooling have put 2 and in some cases 3 fans in their power supplies.
These fans can and do fail from time to time, so this short "How To"
will show you how easy it is to change out the fan. Who knows, you might
even have fun doing it.

For the purposes of this quick little guide, I'm going to use your bog
standard single fan PSU from a major OEM. It came out of my old Micron
Millennia P166 that I purchased back in 1995. Yes that's right, 8 years
old and I think it ran for 1 year without the fan working.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supplies needed:

1. A new 80mm fan
2. 2 crimp splices

Tools needed:

1. A #2 Philips tip screw driver
2. A pair of wire cutters
3. A pocket knife (to strip wires)

The first thing we need to do is get inside the power supply. Most are
easy to get into, usually a few screws on the top need to be removed and
the cover will come off. Now that the vital organs are exposed I have to
insert the obligatory "CAUTION". If you are unsure of your capabilities,
seek the advise of your local certified electrician. Ok, enough of that,
lets get naked!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's the PSU with the cover removed:



Now we will need to find where the fan power wires are connected to the
circuit board, just trace them from the fan back to the board. Some
power supplies will have the fan hard wired to the board and others may
have a 2 or 3 pin connector. This one just happened to have a 2 pin
connector:



If your power supply does not have a connector for the fan you will want
to cut the wires close to the fan. This will ensure that you have enough
wire to work with when you attach the new fan.

To remove the fan, simply unscrew the 4 mount screws and pop the
connector off:



This is what 8 years of dog hair and cat dander looks like, Yummmy!





Now that we have everything out, you're going to want to clean up the
power supply. Just take it out side and give a few shots with a can of
compressed air and you are golden.

Next you will need to select a suitable replacement fan. It's your
choice, anything from a Panaflow L1A for the quiet types to a Vantech
Tornado for the wild a crazy types will work. I'm using a nice little
Y.S. Tech fan that I got from my friend Mikki, and spliced it to the
connector that was cut off the old fan with simple crimp splices. It was
easy: black-to-black, red-to-red and squeeze.



Now all we have to do is get everything back together. Fans usually have
arrows on the side of the housing indicating the direction of airflow
and rotation. Position the new fan, ensuring that it is oriented
correctly and screw it in. Then reroute the wires and connect it to the
circuit board header. Replace the cover and you are finished.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to test the power supply before it's installed in your
system, take a spare piece of wire about 2 inches long, strip the ends
and bend it in a "U" shape. Find the 20-pin motherboard connector and
connect the green wire to the black wire next to it as shown. Then plug
the power cord in and the power supply will come on.



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope you enjoyed this quick little article and had some fun learning how
to change the fan in your power supply.

Cheers,
RotorHead

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discuss this guide on the BleedinEdge Forum
<http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php3?s=2c7ab5f56ae9e5bcb662137a2e26b18f&threadid=11>



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